


living like we're renegades

by blackpercy



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mortal, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Gen, Indie AU, M/M, Runaways AU, like this is practically a john green novel but....you know actually good, so they're all runaways and it's super cute and Indie and just imagine the sepia filter, they would say that they love each other but they're emotionally repressed, valgrace RIGHTS mother trucker
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:28:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26749504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackpercy/pseuds/blackpercy
Summary: Jason is running to a sister he never knew he had, in New York, all the way across the country.Piper is running away from an empty house and a city that means nothing to her.Leo is running because it's the only thing he knows.The three find each other and by a twist of fate, they form a sort of family.The Lost Trio, Runaways AU, Written like an Indie Coming of Age movie.
Relationships: Jason Grace & Leo Valdez, Jason Grace & Piper McLean, Jason Grace & Piper McLean & Leo Valdez, Jason Grace/Leo Valdez, Piper McLean & Leo Valdez
Comments: 10
Kudos: 38





	1. Chapter 1

_Long live the pioneers_

_Rebels and mutineers_

_Go forth and have no fear_

_Come close, the end is near_

* * *

_Run._

That was all. The only instruction. His only guideline, his only arrow in the right direction.

_Run._

How could one word hold so much weight? How could it answer his questions and produce more at the same time?

_Just, run._

So, that was what Jason did. He purchased a bus ticket to Chicago, planning to. Silently hoping that Thalia would have answers for him. If she could explain their history, their mother.

Silently hoping for the universe to be in his favor for once.

He glanced at his phone. It was past three AM. Jason knew that Hera and his father were still asleep.

He wanted to get out of the state before they could get a clue.

Thalia was making her way from Canada to Manhattan to meet him. Manhattan. Across the country, Manhattan.

All he had to do was get there. Easy peasy.

* * *

_Run._

That was all Piper had ever done.

Run from cops, run from teachers, run from her friends.

She never thought there would be a day where she would run from her father.

Piper didn’t think it counted as running when the person in question didn’t want you anyway. Still, she purchased a bus ticket and boarded.

She knew someone, her half-sister on her mother’s side, who lived in Long Island. If she could get to her, she could find peace.

So, she ran.

* * *

_Run._

That was all Leo knew.

His childhood had been spent running from foster home to foster home, from relative to relative. 

But he had never anticipated the day he would have to run from people who thought he had killed his mother.

He didn’t know how the house had burned, he didn’t know why his mom had pushed him out of the garage, right before the roof collapsed.

He didn’t want to know.

He just needed to run.


	2. Jason

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Run away, away with me....

The train was cold and empty. A draft flowed through the vents, chilling the only three riders to their bones.

They tried to avoid eye contact, but there was a special type of awkwardness that came with being the only passengers on a bus at three, fifty-six AM.

The boy at the front was clearly shell-shocked. He seemed to be around Jason’s age, fifteen, he was skinny with a full head of curly, dark brown hair. He had warm, coppery skin. His camo jacket was slightly singed. His knees were brought up so his arms could wrap around them. He was staring out the window.

The girl was in the very back. She seemed to be fifteen and had choppily cut, wavy, dark-brown hair that touched her shoulders. She was constantly sweeping bangs out of her brown eyes. She had her arms crossed and she was looking at the floor stubbornly. If you looked closely, you could see her eyes well with tears.

The other boy was tall, blond, and looked like he should be on an All-American Boy poster. He had sky blue eyes that were framed by gold wired glasses. He was in the middle, aware of the girl’s presence and the dark-haired boy's.

The bus driver realized that nobody was going to board, so he began to drive. 

“So,” Jason’s voice broke the silence. The girl glared at him. “Where are you guys…..where are you guys going?”

Curse his stutter. The dark-haired boy scoffed. “Don’t you know any bus etiquette, Golden Boy? When there are two teens looking depressed out of their minds, you don’t talk to them.”

Jason frowned, “I’m sorry, I was just-”

The girl in the back interrupted him. “Guys just...stop. We don’t have to make awkward conversation just because we’re the only people on this bus.”

Jason didn’t agree. There was something about those two kids that part of him could relate to. Of course, he didn’t know anything about them, but there was a part of his brain nagging him to talk to them.

Jason turned to face her, trying for a sincere expression, “I just wanted to know where you were headed. We’re all in the same age group, after all.”

“And?” the boy in the front muttered. He turned around to face Jason, he had brown eyes that seemed to take in his surroundings, analyzing and studying everything.

Jason hung his head. It was no use. 

“Sorry,” he muttered, turning his head to stare out the window. What had he expected? A sudden and fast friendship with two weird kids on the bus. The empty bus fell silent.

Jason wanted to use his phone as little as possible. He probably should have left it at home, his parents might be able to track him.

He had left them a note, saying he would be back soon, he just needed to find someone. That was the truth, but they didn’t need to know who he was finding.

When Thalia had told him the truth, Jason had been too surprised to react. His father had been married to an actress, he had never told him about his older sister, he had taken Jason as a baby and given him to his stepmother, isolating him from his family.

Jason had been told that his mother died in childbirth. He had never known he had siblings. He knew that his father had gone wild in his younger days, so maybe the reveal that he had an older sister shouldn’t have surprised him, but this…

Hera had lied. His father had lied.

Jason’s turmoil was mostly the result of too many questions. What else had they lied about? When he returned, after getting his answers, how would they explain themselves?

It was all sinking in now.

Everything Jason had ever known was a big, fat, lie.

“Hey,”

A soft voice spoke. Jason turned to see the girl in the back, she had a nervous expression on her face. 

“I’m headed to Chicago,” she said kindly. Her expression was sincere, and there was an apology in her brown eyes.

Jason smiled, pushing up his glasses and turning to face her fully. “Me too. I’m supposed to make it to Manhattan to meet my sister.” 

He left out the fact that he had never really met this supposed sister in real life.

He snapped back to reality. The bus. The girl. The quiet boy in the front.

The girl had moved up a couple of seats. She was friendly for a stranger.

“So,” she began, tugging on a strand of brown hair. “Why are you running?”

The question took him by surprise. It must have shown because the girl raised a dark eyebrow.

“C’mon, I know a runaway when I see one,” she said with a scoff. She had brought her knees up so she could wrap her arms around them, she stared at Jason waiting for his answer.

Why was he running?

An answer popped in his head. He was running to find his sister, Thalia Grace. He wanted to find her and get his questions answered. Understand what happened to his mother, because his parents had lied to him far too many times to ask them. 

But something about that answer wasn’t completely true. There was something else, a different reason why he was “running”.

But he couldn’t say that.

He didn’t know.

“I....” Jason paused. His eyes studied his surroundings, he fiddled with the hem of his sweater, stalling for time to gather his thoughts. “I’m not really all that sure yet. I’m not even sure if I want to come back.”

The girl tilted her head to the side, “Why?”

She sure did ask a lot of questions. 

Maybe he was running away from the rules, the regulations, and the stifling atmosphere Hera and his father had created for him. Was he running away from the title of “The Golden Boy”, everybody’s perception that he was “perfect”?

Was he running to a sister that claimed to care? To the most sincere person he had ever met, despite knowing her for only a month?

He didn’t know.

“I don’t know,” he admitted miserably. 

She gave him a genuine smile. When she spoke, her voice was honest and sincere. “I hope you figure it out.”

He hoped so, too.


	3. Piper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lost souls and reverie...

Piper had done this a million times.

She’d pack her stuff, she’d leave the mansion with nobody to stop her. She would wait at some bus stop, spend a couple of hours there thinking someone would notice, then she would bike back when she was proven wrong.

She was always proven wrong. 

_He won’t even care_ , she thought sadly. _He’s all the way in Spain filming some action movie_. 

Before he left, after spending a week with her, Piper had told him that it was “okay”. It was what she was supposed to say, right? She was supposed to pretend things were fine and that every day she wasn't practically consumed by loneliness.

It wasn’t okay. She wasn’t okay.

And, yeah, she seemed like a spoiled rich girl acting out for attention, she probably was, but she just wished her father would look at her. Look at her for real, for once, and see her.

Piper pulled her oversized sweater around her tighter. The slight chill of the window pressed against her forehead as she watched the cars go by. Hours had passed since she’d held a conversation with the blond boy. He was a bit awkward, kind of soft. He was an interesting person, she liked him. Up ahead, the curly-haired boy hadn’t moved from his spot. He seemed melancholy.

Well, weren’t they all?

Piper did something that surprised her. She got up carefully, moving to the seat across from the boy. He didn’t glance at her. She held out her huge backpack, pulling out a box of vegan donuts she had purchased before getting on the bus. She mentally hoped they hadn’t toppled over as she opened up the box.

“Want one?” 

He glanced at her, looking her up and down. He hesitated. 

“Why?”

She rolled her eyes, “I’m trying to be nice to you. Fair warning, though, these are all glazed.”

A flicker of a grin crossed his lips. He reached out, taking the one on the right. 

“Thanks,” he said sincerely. Piper nodded settling there. She could feel the blond boy’s eyes on them, she turned around.

“Well, there aren’t twelve donuts for nothing,” she teased, waving him over. “C’mon!”

He walked over, sitting in the seat right behind the curly-haired boy. They ate the box in silence. Piper wiped her fingers with a napkin, she handed some out to the boys. 

“My name’s Piper,” she said. She looked at the blond boy. “I’m sorry if I was rude to you before, I was just-”

“I get it,” he said quickly, nodding sharply before turning it down a notch. “It’s kind of rough right now.”

She smiled softly, “Yeah...yeah, it kind of is.”

The curly-haired boy wasn’t talking, he was staring out the window as he took tiny bites of his donut. Piper assumed he was listening.

“What’s your name?” She asked him, tapping his seat. He looked at her in surprise, like he hadn’t expected her to ask. Like he hadn't expected to be noticed.

He swallowed the piece he had bitten off, wiping his hands as he said, “Leo.”

One word responses. Great.

Piper almost gave up on the conversation, but then Leo straightened and turned to face the blond boy. An apology was written all over his expression.

“I’m sorry, dude.” He tried for a joking smile. “To answer your question, I have no idea where the heck I’m going.”

The blond boy chuckled, his eyes crinkling up. “I’m going to New York, to find my sister. Also, my name’s Jason.”

Piper grinned brightly, “Shut up! I’m going to New York for my sister, too! I’m headed to Long Island.”

Jason’s eyes glanced over Leo and Piper, not in scrutiny, but in a happy kind of wonder. 

“Guess I’m the only one of us that doesn’t have it all figured out,” Leo quipped. His tone was lighthearted, but Piper sensed an undertone of sadness.

If they were friends, Piper would have punched his shoulder lightly and given him a hug. Instead, she shrugged.   
  
“I don’t have anything figured out,” she confessed. It was true. She had only recently met Drew. She wasn’t sure if she would stay in Long Island forever or come back. “I’m just going to meet my half-sister….without my dad’s consent.”

Jason nodded his agreement, “I’m confused about everything nowadays. I have a sister I’ve never met before, my parents have been lying to me all my life, and I don’t know what’s waiting for me.”

Leo fell silent. He fiddled with a Rubix cube (where did he get that?) as he thought. Piper looked down at her shoes. 

“That’s pretty heavy, dude.” She said quietly. Her issues seemed to dwarf in comparison.

Jason’s eyes widened. “I’m so sorry if I made it awkward! I didn’t...I’m really-” 

Leo held a hand up, stopping Jason’s apology mid-sentence. “It’s alright, Golden Boy. We all need an outlet right now, you’re fine.” 

“Yeah,” Piper agreed. “Plus, as you said, if we’re gonna be on a bus alone for two days, we might have to talk.”

Leo jabbed his thumb in her direction, ruffling his hair and changing his sitting position for the fourth time. He was a very animated person, Piper noted. Even when he wasn’t speaking to them, he was fiddling with something. Watching him felt like watching a Youtube video at 2x speed.

“I’m not going to Texas,” Leo stated. He didn’t meet their eyes. “ _Anywhere_ but Texas.”

Piper wanted to inquire further. Why not Texas? But the look in Leo’s eyes told her that the conversation was over.

She didn’t know why she wanted to speak to them so badly. Really, she didn’t. It wasn’t like this was the first time she was meeting people, she lived in Los Angeles, there was _always_ someone to meet.

Piper just had a good feeling about these guys. It was one of those hunches you had about a person, that you weren’t brought into their life on accident. Piper wasn’t very superstitious, but something drew her to these two kids in front of her.

The three engaged in awkward conversation before finally falling silent. To anybody else, that would have been a bad sign, but not to Piper. She knew that these weren’t just some ordinary kids. Maybe it was just her inner idealist, but she felt like this bus ride was the start of something.

Piper checked her phone. It was six AM. The sky was lightening, a gray-blue color driving the darkness away. Coral-red touched the clouds, a sign of the coming sunrise.

She watched as the sun rose, turning the sky a gradient of dark coral, pink, and yellow. Piper always loved watching the sunrise with Grandpa Tom, she liked how it was never the same every day. She would have gone to him if he was still alive.

What would Grandpa Tom say to her right now? Would he tell her off, would he encourage her, would he judge her?

No, Piper knew he wouldn’t do any of those things. Instead, he would fold his brown, wrinkled hands over his knee, she could imagine a thoughtful expression on his face. Grandpa Tom would lean forward a little bit, the way he always did when he told a story or gave good advice. 

She could imagine his voice. 

“ _Why are you running?_ ” He would ask her simply. Her imagination was running with the daydream, this time it seemed to be getting away from her. 

She repeated the question in her mind. Why was she running? Asking herself this, Piper had thought she was so sure. Could you really run away from something that wasn’t chasing you? 

Piper was running from nothing. She was running away from an empty, lonely, mind-numbingly boring, city of nothing. 

She _wished_ she were running. She wished that somebody in Los Angeles cared about her enough to chase her. She wished that she was running out of a closed-door instead of walking out of a door that was wide open.

So maybe she wasn’t running. Maybe Piper was just leaving a city that had no place for her. Maybe she was strolling around, aimless and wandering. 

Suddenly, she turned to face the boys. She stared at them until they noticed. Jason’s blond eyebrows knit.

“Are you okay?” he asked warily. Piper quickly shook her head.

She pointed at Jason. “You’re running to find someone.”

Before he could respond, she pointed at herself. “I’m not running at all.”

Then, Piper pointed at Leo. His expression was one of amusement mixed with curiosity.

“So, why are you running?"


	4. Leo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Running wild, and running free...

Why was he running?

What a terrible question.

Leo raised an eyebrow at Piper. She looked like she had just had a mind-blowing realization, she was staring at him intently, like she couldn’t wait to get in his head.

He _hated_ it when people tried to get in his head.

“Listen, Piper,” he took apart a wind-up toy as he spoke, reconfiguring it over and over again. “I don’t know what John Green book you just finished recently, but I promise you there’s not a philosophical reason why I’m running away from home.” 

His hands went still as he stared at the girl. “I’m running _away_ , in the literal definition of the word. I'm running because I have to. And I’ve always ran, so I’m fine.”

Piper scrunched her eyebrows together, cocking her head to the side as she studied him.

“Are you really?”

Leo scoffed, “Didn’t I just tell you I am?”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t very convincing,” Jason muttered. Leo shot a glare at the kid. 

“Why do you even care?” He asked with an eye roll. “I’m just a stranger you shared donuts with.”

“Donuts are emotionally binding,” Piper nodded sagely, taking another bite out of a donut. That made Leo laugh.

“So, are our souls forever connected or something?” Leo snickered, making waggly fingers at the two other kids. “Unbreakable Vow type stuff? _Ooo_ , should we do a _blood oath_?”

Jason snorted. Piper grinned. Leo mentally exhaled as the conversation moved from his reasons for running away, to Harry Potter. Jason had apparently never watched the movies, and Leo and Piper were giving him a long and detailed rundown of what took place.

Leo wasn’t very into the conversation if he was being honest. Piper’s question still shook him. 

He knew exactly why he was running away. This was, what, the sixth time? Somebody give him a freaking medal, he just broke his own record.

It wasn’t supposed to end up like this. Leo had just moved in with his mom two months ago. She had started a garage, Leo was going to an okay public school. They were finally together.

Then came the fire.

Leo ached with the memory of the garage fire. The inky smell of smoke tainted his nose. The black, foggy, gas clouded his vision. The air seemed to waver in the heat, copper-red flames licked his skin. His mother was trapped underneath something, he had to get her out. _Why couldn’t he get her out?_

Leo blinked twice, three times. The influx of panic waned. The world cooled down, and he stared at the metal walls of the bus, its “don’t smoke” posters and Suicide Hotline numbers staring back at him. Piper was chattering about Harry Potter while Jason asked questions.

(She must have ADHD. He would have to ask, he vibed with her.)

There was no fire. He was relatively safe.

He shut his eyes, the back of his head hitting the seat as he counted down from twenty.

“Are you okay?”

Jason’s concerned voice broke his mental countdown. He opened an eye at him, lifted an eyebrow.

What could you even say in response to that? _Yeah, I’m fine, just having a freaking panic attack._

He wasn’t okay now, but he would be. He always was.

He flashed a classic jokester smile. “I’m alright. Have you heard of Snape yet or are you still calm?”

“He was _misunderstood_ !” Piper threw her hands up dramatically. “He was _still_ a hero!”

“Hero or not, he can kiss my-”

Piper flipped him off, Leo gladly returned it. 

He was grateful for the banter. It grounded him at this moment and prevented his mind from wandering off to what happened two months ago.

When his mom had died. When his entire family had blamed him for the fire and convinced themselves that Leo was a demon.

He scoffed. He would be a terrible demon.

Leo listened to the conversation, chiming in every now and then with an opinion specifically engineered to piss Piper off.

“Snape’s hair was greasier than my white foster mother’s enchiladas,” Leo deadpanned. Jason almost spat his water out. Piper couldn’t help but stifle a laugh.

Leo clapped the blond boy on the back, shooting Piper an apologetic shrug. “It’s true. It was torture to watch for someone with _my_ effortless beauty.”

The bus driver made a comment about how they were going to stop in Las Vegas for forty minutes. The three kids nodded, voicing their thanks. 

“Are your parents at this stop?” The driver asked nicely. 

Jason, Piper, and Leo all mumbled something at the same time, expecting the question to come up. The driver chuckled.

“One at a time, please.”

“Yes, sir!” Piper spoke first, smiling sweetly. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the same bus, but I’ll be seeing them here.”

She kept up the smiling, jabbing Leo in the stomach to make something up. Leo plastered on a grin, too.

“Mine are...in Chicago too.” It was a terrible lie, and he was pretty sure his grin was too wide to be believable, but the driver didn’t question it.

Jason did a thumbs up, a neutral expression relaxing his face. “Same here. Except...my older sister.”

Suddenly, Jason's phone rang. Leo cut a glare at him. Jason glanced at his phone, his face morphing from neutrality to conflict.

It was probably his parents.

He let it ring. It stopped for a couple of seconds. Jason visibly exhaled.

Then it rang again.

Jason’s eyes bugged in panic, the bus driver narrowed his eyes at them.

“Are you sure your parents know where you are?” He asked, his voice low and suspicious.

Leo’s mind was blank for a second, then it whirred to life, buzzing with possibilities. This wasn’t his problem, he could lie his way out of here. This was Jason’s issue. Leo had an alibi, Leo had solutions.

He didn’t have to risk his neck for this stranger. 

But if the kid didn’t want to be found, he didn’t want to be found. Runaway’s code and all that.

Leo was about to jump in, but Jason shrugged, putting his phone away.

“Spam.” 

The bus driver relaxed, a smile spreading across his gray beard.

“Good,” he chuckled deeply as he pulled into a parking space. “I would have to report you if you were on your own.”

The trio chuckled along with him nervously. 

They each thanked the bus driver as they jumped down. Leo wondered how he could make his way to the bus without the other two kids noticing. It wasn’t like he had any money to buy food.

He was about to mutter something about using the bathroom when Jason turned to face them at the bus stop entrance.

“Breakfast on me?”

* * *

One of Leo’s foster families, the Walters, had a daughter that was _obsessed_ with neon lights.

They were in her room, there was one in the kitchen, she hung them up from her ceiling, they were everywhere.

Leo stared out the window of the burger place nearby. On the way to Vegas, he had counted at least thirteen neon signs. When they arrived in Vegas, he had seen six so far.

The city had that “tourist air”. The distinct feeling that the glitz, glam, and novelty were nothing more than a convincing facade and once all the tourists cleared out, the curtain would drop and the truth would be revealed. It was subtle, but it was there.

Leo noticed that Piper only ate fries. He lifted an eyebrow.

“You’re in a burger place and you didn’t get a burger,” he pointed out. She rolled her eyes.

“Thank you, Captain Obvious, for that much-needed commentary.”

Jason smiled at them, “Are you a vegetarian, Piper?”

“Yeah,” she said with a nod. “One time, my dad and I drove past a butcher’s place when I was, like, in middle school and it smelled _terrible_. I never wanted to eat meat again.”

Leo could have given a sarcastic remark, but he knew that vegetarians were kind of sensitive about that, so he thought against it.

Instead, he took a bite out of his burger, swallowed, then shrugged his shoulders. “How much time left do we have before we get back on the prison bus?” 

Jason checked his watch, “Ten minutes.”

Leo eyed the watch. He couldn’t believe this was the first time he was noticing it, it wasn’t a watch you could just...miss. It had a black face and gold Roman numerals, it’s round glass bordered by shiny gold. The black leather band was wrapped around Jason’s wrist securely.

Leo nodded in its direction. “Golden Boy, where’d you get the watch?”

Piper glanced at Jason’s left arm with a raised eyebrow. She didn’t bat an eye at it before looking away.

Jason blushed a little bit at the question. His right hand moved up to cover it. 

“It was my dad’s,” he confessed. “It’s been in my family for a couple of generations. He gave it to me a year ago when he forgot my birthday.”

“Exactly how rich are you?” Leo rested his chin on his fist as he quizzed the other boy. He meant no harm, and from his body language, Jason wasn’t offended.

“I-I don’t know?” Jason’s blush deepened, Piper snickering at the sight.

“You’re almost as red as this ketchup,” she teased, kneeling on the booth seat and holding up the ketchup bottle to Jason’s face and exchanging a thoughtful glance with Leo. “Leo, does it match?”

Leo squinted sarcastically, “Dunno, there’s a slight difference in shade.”

“No, no, you’re right, I see it.”

They burst into laughter at Jason’s glare, Piper ruffling Jason’s blond hair and him batting her away.

Leo missed laughing like this. The last time he had laughed so hard he had to hold his stomach was when he heard his mom’s Gollum impression for the first time.

Two weeks before the fire.

He could feel his good mood taking a dive off a cliff, and he was trying to avoid that. He needed to get out of his head.

Leo opened his mouth to speak, but Piper and Jason were distracted. 

“Guys?” 

They were both practically making eyes at someone in the back of the room. Leo didn’t know what could be so intriguing about her, so he followed their gaze.

The woman was tall with jet black hair and a leather jacket. She had a dark mole on her cheek, and she was drinking a milkshake. Her leather jacket had a large word, or name, printed on the back in angry red lettering.

 _Nemesis_.

Leo’s eyes flickered to the window to see her peculiar motorcycle parked.

He knew exactly who she was, and if she was here, he wasn’t safe.

“I have to go,” Leo mumbled, packing up his burger and putting it in his drawstring bag. The other door was directly behind her, she wouldn’t notice him.

Piper grabbed his wrist, “Dude, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Leo’s eyes glanced at Aunt Rosa, sitting on the barstool and drinking a beer. 

“Yeah, now let go of me.” Desperation leaked into his voice, Leo didn’t care. Alarms rang in his head at the sigh of Aunt Rosa’s slouching form. He needed to get out, he needed to get out, he needed to get-

She turned around. Leo ducked under the table. Her beady black eyes scanned the restaurant carefully, then she turned around to eat her burger.

Questions flooded his brian as Leo tried to think of a plan of action. Why was she here? Had she finally tracked him down? _How could he get out of this suddenly stifling restaurant?_

Jason’s eyes followed Leo’s terrified gaze to Aunt Rosa. He gulped.

“Dude...are you running away from _her_?” 

Leo glanced at him, “Yeah, now, this was nice and all, but I gotta go.”

Leo quickly rushed out of the restaurant, trying to analyze where to go. Aunt Rosa would probably check the bus if she knew he was here, so he couldn’t go back there. He’d have to find some way to navigate Las Vegas. He didn’t have a car or money, but he _had_ seen a hotel on the way here and it was close enough.

Maybe he could get out of here. 

His thoughts were interrupted by someone sliding an arm around his shoulders. He turned to see Piper’s collected expression staring in front of them. Jason was clutching his backpack straps on his other side, his mouth pressed into a thin line. Out of instinct, Leo looked behind him. Aunt Rosa hadn’t left the restaurant.

“What the hell are you doing?” He demanded. Jason gave him a look that said _Dude, I don’t know either_.

Piper rolled her eyes, “We’re not leaving you to run away from a scary lady all by yourself.”

“I’ve _always_ run from ‘scary lady’, who’s name is Rosa, by the way, all by myself,” Leo hissed, shaking her arm off. “I don’t need your pity, we don’t even know each other.”

Jason shook his head, “It’s not pity, Leo. Listen, we’re all running away from somewhere. What if you came with me to meet my sister,” he bargained. “We could go toge-”

Leo silenced the taller boy with an eye roll. “Like I said, Jason. I don’t need your pity.”

The trio passed the restaurant, strolling down the sidewalk and passing multiple office buildings, walls, and assorted eateries. Leo was growing restless. He wasn’t used to strolling down the sidewalk with a couple of friends, he was used to running for his life from a crazy family friend who was convinced he killed his own mother.

“Leo, I’m not pitying you.” Jason finally said slowly. Leo turned his head to see around Piper’s. He could see his blue eyes flashing behind his glasses. “We’re all kind of in the same boat. There’s no use letting you do this by yourself when two of us are going to New York and you probably don’t know where the hell you’re going.”

“Ouch,” Leo deadpanned. Piper grinned. 

Piper shrugged, still not taking her arm off his shoulder. “He’s right. We might as well stick together. There’s a reason why we’re all going in the same direction, right?”

Leo groaned dramatically, “Ugh, are you one of those people that believe in ‘fate’ and crap?”

“I don’t think things _only_ happen because of coincidence,” she said with a shrug. “Sometimes things fall into place a little bit too nicely.”

Leo opened his mouth to answer, but Jason cut him off by pointing to a pawn shop.

“So, I’m gonna guess we’re not going back to the bus, right?” He asked them. Piper turned to Leo. Leo nodded. 

“Yeah, we can’t go back. Rosa can’t know where I am, and it’s no coincidence that she’s in Vegas at the same time I am.”

The three had walked their way to an outdoor mall kind of place. There was a laundromat, a jewelry store, an electronics place. It was super tiny, and there were no big-name brands. Jason rubbed his wrist absentmindedly as he scanned the area. “We’re gonna need some money so...I can sell my watch.”

Leo’s eyes bugged out as his mind gauged the money that watch could bring in. The sunshine hit the gold frame of the watch, it seemed to wink at him. He blinked a couple of times before staring at him.

“You would sell that thing? For a kid you just met?” 

Jason smiled kindly, nodding. Piper ruffled Leo’s hair and grinned at Jason fondly. Warmth spread in Leo’s chest at the gesture, at the two kids standing with him at some outdoor mall in Vegas. His mind couldn’t fully register why two strangers were ready to risk it all for him, of all the people. Before he could stop it, a smile spread on his face.

Piper grabbed Jason’s hand, jostling Leo to the direction of the pawnshop excitedly.

“Alright, runaways, enough of the sappy stuff. Let’s do this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i told you that this would be highly unrealistic, right?


End file.
